Configure the recent updates feature

Edit settings in the profiles-policy.xml file to configure the recent updates feature.

The recent updates feature allows users to connect with people in their network by posting messages to their profile and commenting on their status messages. As administrator, we can enable or disable the feature for specific profile types, depending on the organization's needs. We can configure access control settings according to profile type. We can also configure visibility of targeted events in the Profiles activity stream.

Profiles directory extensions must be enabled to support this capability. Extensions are enabled by default.

Profiles policy contains two related settings that impact how a user is enabled to post a status update on their Profile page – profiles.board and profile.status.update. Recommended to have identical settings for both of these policies. In case of conflict between the two settings, the most restrictive setting is used. See Configure the status update feature for related information.

The following steps provide information about the properties that we can set for the recent updates feature, and the access levels and scopes that we can configure.

1. Check out the profiles-policy.xml file:
   cd app_server_root/profiles/Dmgr01/bin
   ./wsadmin.sh -lang jython
   execfile("profilesAdmin.py")
   ProfilesConfigService.checkOutPolicyConfig("</tmp>", "cell_name")

   To get cell name...

   print AdminControl.getCell()

2. Open the profiles-policy.xml file using a text editor, from the temporary directory to which it was checked out.

3. Edit the following properties for the recent updates feature as needed.

   profile.board

   Enable or disable Profiles recent updates feature.

   Configure this property does not affect the ability to post status messages.

   This property takes a string value. Possible values include:

   • true. Enable the recent updates feature for users with the specified profile type. When set to true, message posts display in the user interface.

   • false. Disable the recent updates feature for users with the specified profile type. When set to false, message posts do not display in the user interface. The access control level settings are also ignored when the feature is disabled.

   profile.board.write.message

   Controls user access to post messages.

   Access levels for this property can be defined using one of the following scopes:

   • none. No user can post messages to users with the specified profile type.

   • self. Users with the specified profile type can view and post messages in their own recent updates area. Administrators can also view and post messages in the recent updates area of users with the specified profile type.

   • colleagues_not_self. Only people who belong to the network of the user with the specified profile type, and who have the person role, can view and post messages to the user's recent updates area. Users with the specified profile type cannot post messages to their own recent updates area.

     If resourceOwner is specified on the access check, the resource owner constraint must also be met, unless the user has the self role.

   • colleagues_and_self. People who belong to the network of the user with the specified profile type, and who have the person role, can view and post messages to the user's recent updates area. Users with the specified profile type can also post messages to their own recent updates area.

     If resourceOwner is specified on the access check, the resource owner constraint must also be met, unless the user has the self role.

   • person_not_self. Users with the Person role in the News application can post messages to or view the recent updates area of users with the specified profile type. Users with the specified profile type cannot post messages to their own recent updates area.

     If resourceOwner is specified on the access check, the resource owner constraint must also be met, unless the user has the self role.

   • person_and_self. Users with the Person role in the News application, including self, can post messages to or view the recent updates area of users with the specified profile type. Users with the specified profile type can also post messages to their own recent updates area.

     If resourceOwner is specified on the access check, the resource owner constraint must also be met, unless the user has the self role.

   profile.board.write.comment

   Controls user access to post comments to the recent updates area.

   Access levels for this property can be defined using one of the following scopes:

   • none. No one can post comments to the recent updates area of users with the specified profile type.

   • self. Users with the specified profile type can view and post comments to their own recent updates area. Administrators can also view and post comments to the recent updates area of users with the specified profile type.

   • colleagues_not_self. Only the people who belong to the network of the user with the specified profile type, and who have the person role, can view and post comments to the user's recent updates area. Users with the specified profile type cannot post comments to their own recent updates area.

     If resourceOwner is specified on the access check, the resource owner constraint must also be met, unless the user has the self role.

   • colleagues_and_self. People who belong to the network of the user with the specified profile type, and who have the person role, can view and post comments to the user's recent updates area. Users with the specified profile type can also post comments to their own recent updates area.

     If resourceOwner is specified on the access check, the resource owner constraint must also be met, unless the user has the self role.

   • person_not_self. Users with the Person role in the News application can post comments to and view the recent updates area of users with the specified profile type. Users with the specified profile type cannot post comments to their own recent updates area.

     If resourceOwner is specified on the access check, the resource owner constraint must also be met, unless the user has the self role.

   • person_and_self. Users with the Person role in the News application, including self, can post comments to and view the recent updates area of users with the specified profile type. Users with the specified profile type can also post comments to their own recent updates area.

     If resourceOwner is specified on the access check, the resource owner constraint must also be met, unless the user has the self role.

   For example:

   <feature name="profile.board">
    <profileType type="default" enabled="true">
     <acl name="profile.board.write.message" scope="colleagues_and_self" /> 
     <acl name="profile.board.write.comment" scope="colleagues_and_self" /> 
    </profileType>
    <profileType type="contractor" enabled="true">
     <acl name="profile.board.write.message" scope="person_and_self" /> 
     <acl name="profile.board.write.comment" scope="colleagues_and_self" /> 
    </profileType>
    <profileType type="visitor" enabled="false" /> 
   </feature>

   This code sample enables the recent updates feature for the default profile type, but restricts access to post messages and comments to people in the profile owner's network who have the person and the profile owner. The recent updates feature is also enabled for the contractor profile type, but access to post messages is restricted to users with the person role, including the profile owner. Access to post comments is restricted to the profile owner, and people in the profile owner's network who have the person role. The recent updates feature is disabled for the visitor profile type.

4. To restrict or enable display of activity stream events for a given set of users, use the profile.activitystream feature as shown in the following example:

   <feature name="profile.activitystream">
         <profileType type="default" enabled="true">
       <!-- only surface public targetted events in the Profiles        Activity Stream of people with the profile type        "default" from colleagues -->
               <acl name="profile.activitystream.targetted.event"
          scope="colleagues" />
         </profileType>
   </feature>

   The supported scopes are:

   • none – No targeted events are surfaced in the activity stream of people with the given profileType.

   • colleagues – Only targeted events from colleagues are surfaced in the activity stream of people with the given profileType.

   • self – Only the user’s own targeted events are surfaced in the activity stream of people with the given profileType.

   • colleagues_and_self – Only the user’s own and targeted events from colleagues are surfaced in the activity stream of people with the given profileType.

   The profile policy only applies to new events, it does not impact the display of existing events that are already visible in the activity stream.

5. Save the changes and check the profiles-policy.xml file back in :
   ProfilesConfigService.checkInPolicyConfig()

6. To exit the wsadmin client, type exit at the prompt.

7. Stop and restart the Profiles server.

Parent topic:
Configure profile features